July 1, 2008
Last year on July 1, 2007, I celebrated my 60th birthday by having dinner with a small group of friends and Family. It was a lovely evening.
Since then, I have sold my home and “down-sized” thus freeing up some money. Widowed, with a grown-up family, I decided to give myself a large treat! I would fulfil a a child-hood (come called it childish) dream, and go to the North Pole. Yes, that’s right! I would go to the North Pole.
It was only after I had made the booking that I realised my birthday would occur while I was in the Arctic. My youngest daughter is here with me, but we actually reached the North Pole on the birthday of my older daughter, 29th June.
My father, who is dead, was my initial inspiration! He showed me books which I still have, though have not fully read, of “Nansen’s Farthest North.”
Scott of the Antarctic was a story that inspired frequently also, and recently Guinness featured an advert depicting Tom Crean, the Irishman who accompanied Shackleton. All of these people fed into my dream, which is a dream no longer, but a fully realised part of my life.
F. Harkin, Ireland